Totino-Grace claims final North Suburban crown

Prologue
Off to Totino-Grace to see the #5AAA Eagles host #8AAA Columbia Heights.  The winner gets the final North Suburban championship.  The usual quality walking taco on the menu and no better way to end the regular season than with a can of Pepsi.  Spring Lake Park, Minneapolis Henry and De La Salle all watching their section foes tonight.  Nice work by the large choir with the national anthem and a nice crowd on hand.  We get John Lithgow and the Nutty Professor working both the JV and varsity.

Song of the Day
Fly like an Eagle - Steve Miller Band

Total Beverage Consumption Counter: 1336 ounces  (112 games, 96 days)

• 12 oz 7 Up 
• 20 oz Barq's Root Beer
• 20 oz Mug Root Beer 
• 68 oz Sprite 
• 84 oz Dr Pepper
• 160 oz Red Powerade
• 232 oz Red Gatorade
• 184 oz Coke 
• 520 oz Pepsi

Game Time
Reggie Meyer with 2 quick 3s and and TG adds another bomb for a 9-2 lead at the 16:08 mark.  Coach Troy Russell takes timeout to regroup his guys.  Meyer keeps it going with a nice curl for a 3 point play and converts and inbounds lob for a 19-7 Eagles lead.  Heights then goes to an extended 2-3 zone and that helps bring them back.  Jarrett Baptiste with a bucket and Tak Anway converts a turnover to conclude a 10-2 run.  21-17 Totino-Grace as they take time at the 7:12 mark.  The rest of the half stays pretty even.  Seth Sullwold sits the last 4 minutes with 3 fouls for Totino-Grace.  31-25 Totino-Grace holding the lead at the half.

Totino-Grace with the 7 point lead and then a bad technical from the 3rd offical (not the guys mentioned above).  Meyer converts both of those but no points on the possession.  Then Meyer out of the high post to Colin Fleming for 3.  Add in a Cole Wagner layup and the lead is 14 with 12:22 left.  Baptiste gets a long breather.  Meyer with a 3 point play in that rest period to push the lead to 13.  Baptiste returns with 7:02 left and the Hylanders spurt.  Montroy Scott with a pair of 3s, Anway drives for 2 and Colton Williams converts a turnover.  10-0 Heights run and its game on.  56-53 Totino-Grace with 4:31 left.

Heights started to see their zone get carved up but their man was far worse.  They go back to man out of the timeout in a bit of a surprise.  The teams trade buckets, Heights turns it over and Meyer takes 1 bounce and hits a cold blooded jumper with 3:12 left for a 7 point lead.  Williams grabs a missed free throws and makes 2 of his own freebies to cut the lead to 4.  Meyer with a great cut and Fleming finds him for a layup with 1:50 left.  Totino drives for a layup as Heights was trying to foul and the refs wouldn't blow the whistle.  8 point game.  Richard Thomas was a spark off the Heights bench.  He buries a jumper and 3 triples in the last 1:10 to keep it interesting.  But Totino-Grace goes 8-8 from the foul line in the last minute to seal the victory.  Totino-Grace wins 74-71 to clinch the final North Suburban Conference championship.

Post Game
Colton Williams with 21 points to lead Columbia Heights.  Soph foward Jarrett Baptiste finishes with 17.  Richard Thomas with 16 off the bench, 11 in the last 1:10.  The Heights 2-3 zone was effective for a while and they did try to trap short corner out of it.  But they also left the backside block open and that was exploited.  Heights opens the playoffs on Thursday with a grudge match against Como Park.  Heights had won 13 out of 15 games coming into the night.

Reggie Meyer with another outstanding game for the Eagles and I think my prediction of league MVP has to come true.  He finishes with 28 points, 13 of those in the 1st 6+ minutes.  Seth Sullwold with 12 points despite foul trouble.  Colin Fleming with all 11 of his points in the 2nd half.  Great night for those 3 seniors.  Totino-Grace opens on Thursday with Minneapolis Henry.  TG won the regular season meeting by 14 but that was a 4 point game with about 2 minutes left and one of Henry's top players didn't play in one half of that game.  Anything can happen 2 thru 7 in 3AAA.  Totino-Grace with the momentum of 7 straight wins heading into the playoffs.